Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o6zkI24wcAL5XYDccbkwHV5IwjCRVl_7Sg4PvTsd0XQ/edit

Celestia was in her bed chamber, sitting in front of the window and shaking all over while gazing at the moon with an absentminded expression. She was experiencing something she never experienced before. Something she only knew from her first subjects after Luna and she rescued Equestria from Discord: trauma.

About 5 hours had passed since the events in Luna’s throne room. It was hard to tell, since the moon stood perfectly still, high on the night sky as if it claimed rulership over the world now. Celestia was unable to do anything but stare at it while this dreadful scene kept repeating itself over and over again in her mind.

Her sister... tearing apart her own servants. Emerald Dream, Celestia’s favorite maid, tortured in worst imaginable ways. Luna killing her before Celestia’s very eyes and ripping her head off, throwing it over to her in precise intention to horrify her... just how could it have come that far?

As if all that wasn’t traumatizing enough... the blood around Luna’s mouth and covering her teeth. Her own sister, sinking magical fangs into another pony’s body. She feasted on Emerald Dream. She performed cannibalism as if it was nothing.

Finally, Celestia managed to put her thoughts in order a bit again. No. It wasn’t Luna who had done all this. It was this creature possessing her. This ‘de manis’, Nightmare Moon. She escaped with Luna’s body and powers.

The Princess of the Day left her sister’s throne room unaltered and went straight to her bed chamber to recover mentally. She knew she couldn’t leave it like that, but was not able to deal with this yet. She wasn’t precisely sure what to do. All the staff of the castle were killed, so she definitely had to hire new ones. But she could not possibly let them clean up something so... so very, very wrong. If even she didn’t know if she could handle entering this room again and erase Nightmare Moon’s doing, then who would possibly be able to?

As Celestia slowly started to recover from the shock, other and even far more important thoughts came to her mind. Where did Nightmare Moon go? Where did she take Luna? What was she going to do? Finally, she managed to proceed the final words Nightmare Moon spoke to her before teleporting away, making her eyes go wide open in fear.

“‘My wrath shall not end before every last pony has found a gruesome death,’” she quoted shakily.

As the Princess of the Day finally came to understand that the de manis had threatened to erase Equestria’s entire population, she managed to toss her trauma aside and got up again. She couldn’t just sit back and let Nightmare Moon murder her beloved subjects without any resistance. The de manis had to be stopped! Celestia only hoped to be able to find a way for this without having to do anything to her sister.

While the demi-goddess of light flew through the castle, she thought of every possibility she had to capture this creature. It was then that she realized Nightmare Moon possessed such enormous powers that she could easily match her own. It was obvious, actually. This... thing controlled Luna’s body and mind. Celestia was aware of how powerful darkness can be, especially when it was enraged.

Nightmare Moon claimed to be an embodiment of darkness’ pure hatred. She said she acted in the name of darkness, as a bringer of justice and revenge. Although Celestia completely failed to see any justice or justification in her actions, she did wonder if the de manis meant what it said or if it was just babbling. Still, one thing was perfectly clear: no normal pony would stand even the smallest chance against her.

All on her own, Celestia would obviously fail to find Nightmare Moon and prevent any more murders. She also couldn’t risk to send her subjects to catch her. So, the best she could do was informing them that they needed to keep their eyes open and inform her immediately if they spotted this creature.

---

The Princess of the Day reached the balcony. Below her was the entire population of Everfree City. The subjects all had stopped working and just wandered around in deep confusion and worry. It didn’t take them longer than a few seconds to realize that Celestia had stepped on the castle balcony, since they were expecting her to appear and thus frequently looked up.

“My beloved subjects. I regret to inform you that Equestria is facing a new crisis. My sister, Princess Luna, had been abducted by a pony-like creature named Nightmare Moon!” Celestia announced.

The reaction was not to her expectation. Instead of worry and fear, they had confusion written on their faces. Still, Celestia continued.

“It is of utmost importance that she returns to us safely! Without her presence, the moon can not be lowered! So I ask you, my dear subjects, to look out for an unusually tall black pony with magical blue mane and tail, wearing a blue armor. Avoid any contact, as she is extremely dangerous! Instead, should you be able to find this creature, report to me immediately!” she explained.

For a moment, uneasy mumbling spread across the crowd. Suddenly, one of the subjects shouted up to the princess.

“We never even knew you had a sister, Princess! Why is she so important for the moon?” the mare wondered.

Celestia was dumbstruck. Was that pony serious? She didn’t know about Luna?

“I do believe these are not the proper times to make jokes like that! Surely you do remember Princess Luna, demi-goddess of the night and co-ruler of Equestria!” Celestia spoke again, her voice filled with a mix of confusion, a small amount of anger and worry.

Again, the ponies only looked at each other in confusion. Several of the citizen started shaking their heads slowly.

“We are being honest, Princess! We never heard of your sister before!” a stallion finally answered.

Again, Celestia’s eyes went wide open in shock and she slowly backed away to hide the fact that her expression was slowly shifting and her mouth falling open in disbelief.

The Princess’ mind was blown. They didn’t remember Luna! They had forgotten she saved Equestria along with her! How could this be possible? Then it struck Celestia.

“Sister... is there any chance we might be able to spend some time together?”

“A few hundred... it already has been a few hundred years...”

“How much time has passed since we created the cutie mark spell?”

“Fifty years already...”

“Sister. Please. All I ask for is one single night!”

“Is it not reason enough that I am begging you?”

“You do not understand, sister! I can not take it anymore! I really can not!”

Celestia sat down on the floor, staring into the emptiness of the night. All the time, Luna was serious about being alone. All the time, she desperately had been struggling to not become forgotten! Yet, Celestia completely disregarded her.

It all made sense now. Nightmare Moon was telling the truth. The demi-goddess of light effectively brought her sister to the point of total desperation and insanity, which then also affected darkness itself due to her very strong connection to it.

“What have I done?” Celestia asked herself while her tears started flowing.

Moments later, a faint manic laughter echoed across the land. The ponies became terrified, as there was something horrific about this laugh and they did not know the creature it belonged to. But Celestia knew. This was the voice of Nightmare Moon.

---

Roughly an hour before, in a midsize city known as Manechester, the ponies were still completely clueless of what was going on. While some just went back to bed, assuming that something simply went wrong with the inner clock of people, some started wandering around and looking for materials to make torches. Some of the ponies were fearless, making the best of the situation. But most took the prolonged nighttime as a clear warning sign that something terrible had happened.

A large pile of scrap wood was gathered in the center of the city, which then became ignited as a general source of light and heat. Autumn was approaching and it started getting cold at night. So most of the citizen were gathering around the fire, trying to keep themselves warm and their moral up. This situation wouldn’t last forever... wouldn’t it?

None of the adult ponies were as unsure about this as the children were. Foals were holding their mothers tightly while gazing into the fire to distract themselves. Some already sensed that torchlight would be the only kind they would ever see again.

Suddenly, a bright flash filled the air. The citizen turned to its source. A very unusual pony had appeared close to them. A black alicorn with spectral blue mane and tail, wearing a blue armor. Her eyes were blue as well, but there was something strange about them. They were oddly shaped and the color seemed very unnatural, as if it covered the true one.

The unexpected visitor gazed down on the ponies with despise and a deep hatred. The ponies realized this and while the adults slowly backed away, the foals were hiding behind their parents.

“Say, my beloved subjects: Do you miss your sun?” the pony wondered.

“W-who are you?” one of the citizen asked. The alicorn laughed shortly in a sinister tone before replying.

“I am Nightmare Moon. But you may call me your Princess of Terror,” she explained while her mane and tail started gathering to a large blue aura around her. “Keep one thing in mind, ponies: When you see me, you better start running. For I have come to claim your flesh.”

With these words, she used a telekinetic spell to rip a good dozen of ponies in half. Panic broke loose instantly and the ponies started screaming and running in all directions.

Nightmare Moon just laughed manic, letting dark blades shoot out of her aura and chase after several of them. Lightnings appeared out of nowhere, striking down a dozen ponies more.

The de manis frequently made sharp traps shoot out of dark corners the citizen were running to, forcing them to turn around and run back towards her. Every now and then, she picked one of them up by magic. Those who were so unfortunate as to be caught by her were either eaten alive, torn to shreds and then evenly scattered over the city, or thrown into the fire.

Many retreated into their homes, hoping in vain that they would be safe there. Nightmare Moon just tossed the burning torches they dropped on the thatched roofs. It did not take very long for the whole city to set on fire, smoke filling the streets.

Panic and fear increased rapidly as the de manis tried all she could to make this as traumatizing as possible. She took her time to kill the ponies, focusing more on letting them experience fear and dread than agony and desperation. She even allowed several to get away, but that was planned. She used the escaping witnesses to spread the word of her cruelty and make all of Equestria tremble in fear over her name.

The fewer survivors were left, the easier it was for Nightmare Moon to intensify the horrors they were experiencing. The smoke made it very hard for them to see or breathe and the floor started getting slippery from all the spilled blood and guts. Those who weren’t bleeding yet already found themselves covered in the blood of other ponies.

With each brutal death, the air seemed to change a bit more in color. The dark and smoke filled atmosphere turned more and more into crimson red. It felt like darkness itself became bloodthirsty.

---

Not even an hour later, the city was next to deserted, burning, bloodsoaked and filled with thick red darkness. Nightmare Moon calmly wandered around, picking up the last survivors foolish enough to not run out of the city and ripping them apart while analyzing her work. Although she was satisfied by her extreme display of violence, she was generally displeased.

“This is taking way too long. Like this, I will not be able to erase pony-kind,” she mumbled to herself while tearing out the spine of a still living victim.

She dropped the pony to the ground, looking it deep into the eyes. Unspeakable suffering, fear and terror could be seen in them. It was still alive and struggled in vain to breathe and move, staring back at Nightmare Moon. But soon, the shine in the eyes vanished.

As the de manis watched it die, she saw her own reflection in the pony’s eyes. She suddenly found herself inspired.

“Alone, I would have to choose between fast and effective kills or slow and cruel deaths. But if there were more of me, I could have both,” she spoke while grinning wickedly. ”So why should I stay the only one of my kind? Why should I be the only way for darkness to satisfy its bloodlust?”

While she spoke to herself, a stallion decided to run out of his cover, hoping he could get past her while she wasn’t looking. But Nightmare Moon knew where he was all along. His sudden movement only caused her to grab him by magic and let him levitate over to her.

The pony screamed in panic and desperately kicked through the air trying to break loose. But it was useless. As he was just behind the de manis, he stopped screaming and struggling entirely, doing nothing anymore but stare at her in horror.

“Yes. I need more. More of me. More de manis,” she spoke to herself while turning around.

Their gazes met. Suddenly, Nightmare Moon’s eyes turned from blue to a red that could only be described as otherworldly evil. A red that embodied the very essence of darkness’ cruelty. As the stallion stared in them, his mind became overwhelmed by images of hate and gruesomeness that even outdid everything he experienced tonight by far. He started screaming like never before in his life. His screams and fear rapidly became worse and worse. Ultimately, he stopped breathing. The pony literally became scared to death.

At this moment, Nightmare Moon invaded the stallion’s body through his eyes, ears and mouth with her blue aura. Just moments later, it returned with a small glowing sphere: the pony’s soul.

The de manis cast a spell, tearing a part of her aura away and turning it back into red darkness. It quickly clustered around the soul, consuming it entirely. Several moments later, it started changing color and taking shape. It grew to a slender white figure in black clothing. As it fully took shape, the creature looked similar to Nightmare Moon, but its mane, tail and even face were missing. Still, Nightmare Moon succeeded in creating another de manis.

“You are a lot different. You also seem to be far less powerful than I am,” she commented.

The other de manis turned its head to her. Although it could not speak, it still seemed to communicate with Nightmare Moon in some way, since she grinned and responded to something he apparently said.

“I see. It depends on how powerful the soul is and what emotions dominate it which defines how strong the de manis will be and what it will look like,” she spoke.

The white, suited de manis then bowed down before her. Nightmare Moon began to laugh again.

“Your queen? Appropriate. I can not create de manis equal to my power. But you are still a part of me and depend on my existence. Very well then. I shall become the queen of the de manis with countless of children. Together, we will end this world in the name of darkness,” she agreed.

The white de manis looked up to his queen.

“Let the ponies decide about your name. No horror is more effective than that you named yourself. Now go, my child! Spread the fear and suffering! Bring punishment to these sun-loving creatures!” the queen of the de manis ordered.

The suited de manis suddenly let four long black arms grow out of its back, raising them into the air as a symbol to be ready to fight. Then it nodded, disappearing in a nearby shadow.